Posts Tagged ‘Animation’

The post-Flash era is hardly free of animation. CSS animation is quickly becoming a cornerstone of user-friendly interfaces on mobile and desktop, and JavaScript libraries already exist to handle complex interactive animations. In the wake of so much “CSS versus JavaScript animation” infighting, a new API specifically for web animation is coming out that might just unite both camps.

It’s an exciting time for web animation, and also a time of grave miscommunication and misinformation. In 2014, I had the chance to travel the world to talk about using animation in user interfaces and design. I met and interviewed dozens of people who use and champion both CSS and JavaScript. After interviewing so many developers, designers and browser representatives, I discovered a technical and human story to be told.

Everyone likes stuff that moves about on the Web, right? Remember how you cried joyful tears when you first used <marquee>? I do. I nearly sobbed all the water out of my body as I gazed upon “JAKE’S COOL WEBSITE” bobbing back and forth in uppercase serif. Of course, we’re more mature as an industry these days.

We’ve learned that users don’t want websites to look like a CSI console having a personal crisis; instead, we go for smooth transitions that enhance the experience, rather than being the experience themselves. In terms of animation APIs, we’ve been poorly catered to, leaving us to hack around with timers that weren’t really built for animation. Things have been steadily improving in that area, but the new Web Animation specification looks set to shake things up a lot.

People in boardrooms across the world love a good graph. They go nuts for PowerPoint, bullet points and phrases like “run it up the flagpole,” “blue-sky thinking” and “low-hanging fruit,” and everything is always “moving forward.” Backwards is not an option for people who facilitate paradigm shifts in the zeitgeist. Graphs of financial projections, quarterly sales figures and market saturation are a middle-manager’s dream.

How can we as Web designers get in on all of this hot graph action? There are actually quite a few ways to display graphs on the Web. We could simply create an image and nail it to a Web page. But that’s not very accessible or interesting. We could use Flash, which is quite good for displaying graphs — but again, not very accessible. Besides, designers, developers and deities are falling out of love with Flash.

With CSS animation now supported in both Firefox and Webkit browsers, there is no better time to give it a try. Regardless of its technical form, whether traditional, computer-generated 3-D, Flash or CSS, animation always follows the same basic principles.

In this article, we will take our first steps with CSS animation and consider the main guidelines for creating animation with CSS. We’ll be working through an example, building up the animation using the principles of traditional animation. Finally, we’ll see some real-world usages.

By now you’ve probably heard at least something about animation in CSS3 using keyframe-based syntax. The CSS3 animations module in the specification has been around for a couple of years now, and it has the potential to become a big part of Web design. Using CSS3 keyframe animations, developers can create smooth, maintainable animations that perform relatively well and that don’t require reams of scripting. It’s just another way that CSS3 is helping to solve a real-world problem in an elegant manner.

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If you haven’t yet started learning the syntax for CSS3 animations, here’s your chance to prepare for when this part of the CSS3 spec moves past the working draft. In this article, we’ll cover all the important parts of the syntax, and we’ll fill you in on browser support so that you’ll know when to start using it.

Adding interactivity and animations to a design doesn't have to be complicated or make the website inaccessible when you use modern Web standards. In this article, we’ll explore several examples and theories that employ CSS, HTML, SVG, the canvas element and JavaScript. Some of these techniques you'll know, others you may not have considered. Let's start with the basics.

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Manipulating HTML with JavaScript is the most common method of adding interactivity to a website. But before you start using JavaScript, having a strong understanding of the CSS visual formatting model and box model is important. They are vital to making sense of how HTML elements can be manipulated visually. When you dynamically change the style of an HTML element, it will flow with and react to the rest of the document. Learning to anticipate and control what is affected can be difficult.

Just like a couple of weeks ago, this weekend again we’ve got something unusual and creative to lift up your spirits and challenge your creativity over a lousy Sunday. Particle animation is a beautiful concept from motion graphics. Using specialized software, you can simulate the movements of particles depending on the environment — for instance, music rhythm.

In today's post we present selected particle animation music videos. Be prepared: the page may take a while to load. Please make sure to visit the sources of videos to enjoy the viewing experience in HD, and don't forget to turn on your hi-fi-system. We also feature some tutorials in the end of this post: and here you go — now you have something fun to do over the weekend!

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